Montana


Glacier
National
Park

July 2002

 Glacier National Park entrance at Apgar, Montana We originally planned our trip to Glacier National Park, Montana, for the summer of 2000, but the forest fires of that summer caused us to cancel our trip.  The fires, fortunately for the park, were to the south, but they prohibited travel.   So, here we are in July 2002, departing on our long delayed vacation to beautiful Glacier National Park, located in northwest Montana, which together with Waterton Lakes Park in Alberta, Canada, form Waterton - Glacier International Peace Park.
Our vacation started out on a bad note - our Northwest Airlines flight failed to make our connection in Minneapolis (and that was the highlight of our flight), so we had to stay overnight in Minneapolis and fly to Kalispell, Montana the next morning, arriving around noon. As it turned out, this worked out better for photography. Why? Well, the main road across Glacier National Park, the Going to the Sun Road, runs east / west, and we ended up traveling east in the afternoon (with the sun to our back) and on our return trip, west in the morning, a much more pleasant experience than the other way around, and, better for photographs.  Keep this in mind, in you travel to Glacier.
Lake MacDonald, Glacier National Park, at Apgar While planning our trip, we ran across one traveler's experience - "it's beautiful - just go!"  And, she was right. Lake MacDonald Lodge

We were immediately impressed with the incredible beauty of this landscape - the lakes, forests, flowers, and mountains.  Shortly after entering the park on the western entrance at Apgar, we came upon Lake MacDonald, one of the major lakes in the park located astride the Going to the Sun Road.  A bit further down the road, we came to Lake MacDonald Lodge, one of the early National Park Lodges in the park.  

Tour Bus

Going back to the 1930s, red tour buses provided narrated transportation throughout the park.  Recently, these buses have been upgraded with modern, low emission engines and continue to provide tours from multiple points throughout the park.

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